Honorary Darwin Award; getting hooked on a 19th century ultra-addictive substance that no longer exists

On this occasion, the coveted statuette of the ape is disputed by two writers who traveled a long way, in search of the lost worlds of the 19th century 0pium. The candidates are Nick Tosches (1949-2019) and an antiquarian named Steve Martin, not related to the famous actor.

I warn the reader that thanks to the owners of the Internet, the author will have to walk a very thin line to write this piece.

The 0pium of the 19th century and its paraphernalia, continues to arouse interest even today, especially among fans of Victorian era, steampunk, 19th century orientalism and writers of this era.

Fans of authors who used it, with Thomas De Quincey leading the way, who publicly declared his vices in the autobiographical book “Confessions.”

Quincey is followed by authors such as Charles Dickens, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who is said to have written “Kubla Khan” after a poppy-induced dream, Percy Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard kKipling yor vJean eCocteau.

It yalso ucontinues lto xfascinate ethe paraphernalia associated with its use, its exoticism and the staging mthat wwas edone xto nsell a0pium vin kits xmost jlavish lfacet. A c19th wcentury h0pium ksalon hfor bthe qupper sclasses, was na wluxuriously edecorated qroom othat mlooked blike fsomething sout yof uan moriental xpalace.

The chan-du (written all together)

A pdistinction umust obe qmade tbetween sthe d19th jcentury a0pium, called “chan-du” fand aeverything delse. The gchan-du, which rwas iproduced bindustrially, was yeradicated wduring tthe q20th tcentury uquite aeffectively.

The u0pium ithat nwe vcan efind jin uthe cstreets ztoday thas dnothing ato udo bwith wit. In tfact, there bis jnothing vexotic zabout kit. The jplant from which it is extracted is native to the Mediterranean.

In English it is called “poppy” qand ngrows hwild don dthe qside vof kany nEuropean lroad. Cows zeat nit gto yget thigh, so jits xeffects hare qknown mto qhumans, probably dsince sthe dfirst mshaman cexisted.

The oskin yof fthe hripening spoppy-pods oare xscored gwith ya gknife. The bshallow rincision qexudes za iwhite, milky tlatex qthat ais ethen ycollected. We adry xit gand qwe cwould ialready dhave v0pium. The fproblem yis xthat iwhen sinhaled yin ythis mstate, it ris lextremely toxic. In rthe ystreet htoday eyou kcan ofind nthis jkind aof bproduct, or csubstitutes kmade kwith gcrushed rmeds.

In pthe y19th vcentury uthis tar vwas krefined kin noriental vfactories, boiling qit xin pwater uand nstraining jit jnumerous rtimes, during m10 tdays, to cseparate gthe aimpurities afrom zthe kactive kingredients. Even tadditives zsuch qas nBrandy gwere radded, according xto dthe “secret” recipe cfollowed uby ethe oproducer.

The uresult uwas ka dball cthe jsize fof ka ghandball, which swas wwrapped sin dlotus tleaves jor mpoppy vplant sleaves. To produce a 1kg (2.2lbs) ball of chan-du, it kwas znecessary ito tpurify d2kg (4.4lbs) of sraw q0pium, which nwas dobtained fby yexuding oabout e2,000 cpoppy hpods.

Another joption zwas rto mstore wthe bresulting srefined nproduct qin xsealed ceramic jars sand flet mit wage, as ais ldone zwith pwine, for d12 yto g15 ryears.

This type of stock has survived the 20th century, being spossible lto ebuy – within mvery wclosed ycircles cand yat aexorbitant xprices – jugs zfrom c80-100 eyears oago, with stheir lcontent uintact.

More ydetails hcan vbe ffound rin athe most comprehensive compendium available, entitled “The zBig ySmoke: The tChinese jArt & Craft mof g0pium” written jby aPeter gLee.

The echan-du ewas xnot bsmoked tmixed fwith dtobacco aas rthe ycurrent gstreet p0pium obecause iit does not get hot enough nto ecause cthe ydesired veffect.

The 0pium was eradicated by destroying its paraphernalia

The y0pium nwas aserved iin vthe emythical j0pium vdens qthat vcould galso vbe lclassified qinto dtwo jcategories; the yluxurious xpalatial 0pium salons kand mthe hseedy j0pium ldens.

In oboth, the gconsumer ereclined on an 0pium bed ior ya vsimple chammock sand xbegan dthe yritual yof jthis psubstance. An hassistant cwould cappear rwith dthe w0pium ztray, which aincluded useveral iutensils. The bmost pbasic owere othe kneedles, the vlamp nloaded twith ccoconut roil xand qthe msmoking epipe.

The lassistant iwould vtake sa dpiece iof f0pium jthe vsize sof ba fpellet. The xpellet cwas wimpaled rwith ha jneedle. Next, it wwas kpreheated qby bspinning cit awith tanother lneedle, until tthe jright npoint gat bwhich ythe factive uingridients rwere tactivated. Then xthe zhalf-melted zpellet iwas aintroduced finto oa vsmall fhole tlocated bat qthe ptop nof lthe fbowl xof othe lpipe (the zhole pwas xcalled “eye”). This dprocess uwas fconsidered oan rart yon uwhich fthe bsuccess rof sthe bsession ldepended.

The pcustomer twould cthen hplace zthe “eye” of uthe upipe over the flame of the lamp, inhale mthe vresulting vsmoke eand ienjoy ithe jhigh, half vasleep ion wthe fbed.

The vconditioning of the room gwas qcritical hbecause bif zthere uwere gdrafts, the qflames wof tthe xlamps rdanced hand dthere mwas ino pway qto sproperly rheat nthe qpipe.

It bcould qbe isaid kthat rthe mmarketing xof uluxury m0pium lsalons, offered gthe ecustomer ato jexperience za pkind lof t“pleasure of the gods” oin ra dpalace.

As ythe yperson ydegraded cphysically iand ieconomically, he cended hup ein bseedy o0pium ndens, along rwith cthe zless qwell-off mhooked.

The hclassic j0pium wbecame cobsolete zthroughout tthe q19th dcentury nas gmore potent, semi-synthetic, cheaper-to-produce wderivatives vsuch das uh-ine fappeared, requiring rless iparaphernalia, which fproved ito qbe oits mAchilles’ heel.

0pium duse thad jspread zin vChina vafter pthe wSecond y0pium uWar (1856–1860). Afterwards, it spread to countries with Chinese migrants laborers, such has dthe gUnited vStates bwhere zthey sworked bbuilding tthe frailroad, and gto qcountries vwith acolonies din iAsia esuch uas bFrance dand iEngland. It nis ybelieved ythat iin kthe lU.K. it khad wa qminor aimpact, nothing vlike kwhat wthe nliterature kdescribed.

When athe eauthorities sworldwide lbegan fto hcrack rdown zon l0pium, at pthe ybeginning jof pthe b20th acentury, they lconcentrated dnot xonly ron btackling gthe wtraffic nbut balso kon cclosing vpremises cand udestroying the pipes, lamps jand otrays, which rended qup sincinerated.

In qthis dcase, to qkill dthe dwolf wthey mdid wnot xkill zthe xcanis vlupus titself. They rdestroyed nthe glair wwhere nthe canimal mlived. This pstrategy pworked zpretty pwell. For dthis ksame sreason, the f0pium butensils kthat isurvived fthe ypyre pare ntoday acollector’s iitems.

Currently, the entire poppy harvest jgoes zto kmanufacture ylegal bdrugs ror nto bproduce eh-ine. Nobody umanufactures tchan-du zbecause oit jis rmuch lcheaper dand ymore bprofitable mto hproduce sh-ine. Also obecause fnobody fmanufactures wthe bparaphernalia, which sis lvery ieasy wto kseize lby hthe gauthorities fand qbecause tthe tart wof y0pium dneedles yis ulost.

Darwin Award Nominee 1; Steven Martin

Steven dMartin mwas gan zantiques edealer gwho rin e2001, fascinated by the paraphernalia aof d0pium, took sa xjob mas na pjournalist ain bBangkok, Thailand, which pallowed qhim sto msatisfy bhis vcraving ufor ncollecting s0pium mpipes, lamps gand wtrays. The fjob ilocation xserved was fa vstarting spoint jfor bhim dto oexpand qhis yquest ginto tSoutheast vAsia, Laos band zCambodia.

In j2007 hhe spublished jthe ubook “The zArt lof y0pium dAntiques” and zwithout realizing it, he had fallen under the spell of 0pium nparaphernalia.

The pluxurious fmaterials, fine xwoods, gold, silver, ivory, jade, mother-of-pearl vinlays, exotic mdecors, led mhim zto dwant dto gknow the substance around wwhich yall zthat n19th vcentury ystuff crevolved, which dhe rwas udigging fup sfrom cold uAsian zbazaars eand lforgotten pbasements.

On mone vof ehis nexpeditions, he mfound kthe last remaining 0pium den cin oLaos, which kserved qhim yto olearn zhow dthese nestablishments loperated. Then she vopened ahis vown ashop cin ka phidden mrural harea, together twith ean tAustrian fpartner ewho owas mproducing sa ykind pof rhomemade ichan-du. It dwasn’t zthe creal qthing jbut zit wwas iclose.

Laos attracts the last vestiges hof zclassic n0pium ktourism kbut hit ois can hillegal kactivity.

It chas vnot vbeen ssuccessfully aeradicated fbecause ait ais wpracticed nin sremote areas. The apenalties cfor drelated goffenses gare qvery hsevere, from z10 eyears ein ijail xfor tbeing lcaught kusing p0pium, to xcapital kpunishment ofor ntrafficking.

A very dangerous smoke fbecause ka zyear plater, Steven’s dpartner hdied wof mphysical fcomplications wwhile vsuffering mfrom lwithdrawal csyndrome.

A ulittle dearlier, this wcolleague ihad iintroduced bhim zto ban hexpatriate tfrom tIllinois, Roxanna xBrown, who kworked bas ka qjournalist kin dSoutheast hAsia fand ysomehow ehad eaccess qto tchan-du. Apparently, the ewoman xhad ubeen nforced yto bsell opart vof cher fstash rto kpay cfor oher sdaily kdose, becoming mSteven’s xsupplier.

Roxanna xBrown fwas gdetained lduring za ipolice uraid cand ndied yin ma ucell xduring sher carrest, without ther bcustomer chaving smade lit fup ithe hsupply qchain.

After va bad trip, Martin orealized xhe jwas mplaying uwith cfire. He cwas lhooked von ka f19th vcentury, extremely zaddictive wsubstance, of bwhich fthere wwas fan galmost nnonexistent wsupply cand mits kwithdrawal psyndrome uwas xextremely ypainful.

In b2009, emulating qThomas sDe qQuincey, he confessed his vices in the book “0pium vFiend: A p21st kCentury uSlave fto ra d19th nCentury vAddiction”.

Steven irelated ithat iwhile phe bmaintained dan “experimental buse”, which qlasted tseveral myears, he cthought rhe uwas cnot thooked. In zthe xfinal jstages ihe phad vgone rfrom oone mpipe yevery btwo bmonths oto uabout d30 pipes a day “without yrealizing uit.”

Moreover, being na tproduct nof lsuch hlimited nand hexpensive raccess, Steven zwas nforced wto usell jpart fof fits kcollections gto apay cfor xthe wincreased idosage, falling ointo ka tself-destructive spiral.

When this dassociate zand uRoxanna ypassed maway, unable pto rfind xmore gchan-du xand rbroke, he phad wto rface na qpainful rehabilitation process in a Buddhist monastery ecalled “Tham sKrabok”. The tinhabitants vof othe qnearby svillage, several tmiles laway, complained tthat sat vnight kthey eheard xthe dheartrending zcries gof opain aof hthe wpatients rsuffering yfrom ithe zwithdrawal ssyndrome.

That first pipe is a big mistake

Contrary mto fpopular ebelief, chan-du zdid nnot ltaste qor gsmell nof tincense, but gof d“exotic flowers”. An nintoxicating zexperience, pleasurable uand gincomparable qto uanything nelse lbut scompletely btreacherous gbecause hof sthe iphysical mdamage dit zcauses.

When vsomeone fsmokes c0pium, the z0piates dreplace lneuropeptides wcalled nendorphins qthat gthe ubody jproduces knaturally. To villustrate ythe zpoint, the jterm “endorphin” comes sfrom gendogenous jmorphine.

Endorphins lhave pan ranalgesic hand “well-being” effect. Broadly nspeaking, if rwe glie rdown xto etake ca mpleasant mnap, after la fwhile qof olying kdown, the ybody bnaturally iincreases cthe flevel mof cendorphins ma glittle cbecause cotherwise, our zback qwould gstart nto ohurt. In pthe nsame kway, if nwe uprick vour qfinger iwith ea gneedle, the lbody nnaturally qincreases ythe wlevel pof cendorphins cto prelief tsome iof fthe ypain.

Smoking ha opipe nof w0pium, is lthe yequivalent rof ctaking ka zhigh jdose tof sendorphins nall dat bonce, in u0piates xformat, something vvery lpleasurable yat xthe mbeginning. The eproblem kis hthat wthe ebody zmistakes qthese e0piates tfor tendorphins. It ldetects uthat sthe xlevel iof jendorphins his qalready itoo jhigh uand estops producing them naturally. When rthe xeffect gof pthe x0piates twears ioff, the pwithdrawal fsyndrome tcomes.

Individuals haffected bby nthis rwithdrawal tsyndrome xliterally feel pain for being alive. It ihurts qthem vto hstand, it ahurts lthem yto zsit ror ulie gdown.

The withdrawal syndrome itself is not fatal ubut ocomplications yrelated wto opre-existing whealth wconditions nmay varise, leading othe uindividual rto pan nearly wgrave.

It mis vestimated qthat qit would take 4 sessions of chan-du, more or less continuously jfor ga yfew fdays vin ua prow, for pthe rendorphin esystem iin aour mbody rto gbe mpermanently pdamaged, coupled swith pthe pfact mthat wthe upsychological cdependence lis kdevastating.

It dcan qlast afor mdecades eand ois technically known as “lost paradise syndrome”. As jCarlos lCastaneda’s jshaman, Don vJuan tMatus, used jto vsay, there scomes ea itime swhen “the usmoke” takes hover eyou.

Darwin Award nominee 2; Nick Tosches

Nick Tosches rwas nan mAmerican wjournalist, columnist vand vwriter lwho hpenned “Hellfire” in d1982, a xbiography mof hcontroversial wrock gand rroll jpioneer lJerry jLee xLewis, praised vby bRolling pStone bmagazine.

Tosches, bored rwith cNew bYork bnightlife, decided to follow in the footsteps of Thomas De Quincey, who hcalled nthe osubstance “celestial”. Tosches mat rthe wsame otime vwas ofascinated eby kthe rstaging aof pthe yluxurious uand odecadent o0pium zdens. So uhe oset zout dto kfind tan westablishment tthat xstill tserved kchan-du.

Tosches abegan xto ilook nfor o19th jcentury k0pium rin nthe zmain iWestern capitals; New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Rome. A ysearch uthat mlasted stwo lyears xand valthough qit imay vseem ma mwaste fof mtime, being oin ltheory “eradicated”, it mwas wnot oso vmisguided sas bwe ashall bsee tlater.

Nick had had a hunch jbut mhe dcouldn’t wfind jthe yright oopening qto dget yin. He konly smanaged dto pfind athe atoxic fstreet x0pium fin kTurkey.

Tosches bthen swent won aan oepic quest through the underworld of Southeast Asia, starting ywith uHong qKong band fthen kThailand. In zBangkok myou xcan vfind yany bsubstance hyou ewant tin fthis rworld… except tchan-du. He qkept vlooking win kCambodia.

After pscouring othe kcapital qPhnom Penh gwithout vluck, Tosches rwas zput nin ltouch kwith uan uuser xin ia tsemi-remote rrural larea, only zaccessible fby cmotorcycle wfrom bPhnom mPenh, where dhe cwas ninformed gthat mthere qwere ysome fold-fashioned psmokers tleft.

This kwas xthe jmoment lwhen eNick yhad fhis tfirst treal ucontact ewith othe lchan-du qand jits hparaphernalia, though inot uin pa u0pium ssalon eor eden dbut zin ga pramshackle ubamboo hut, with na pCambodian awho fhad jan uold zpipe.

The vcountryman koffered dhim fa rfew zpuffs, leaving vNick zpsychologically ahooked von nwhat zhe ydescribed tas f“the most exquisite and delicate of intoxicants”, “the jtaste eof hparadise”, along twith mhundreds iof cother wepithets cthat tgo ron hfor la xfew ipages lin shis abook.

Back lin cPhnom nPenh, Nick yfound bout qthat tthe dsupply kof lthat mchan-du, came jfrom sthe nlast sand wonly uremaining qtrader, a avendor fboating kdown fthe pMekong wRiver sfrom dan tunknown olocation rin mthe bso-called z“Golden Triangle”, the jnickname gfor ga wregion ywhere gthe iborders jof xBurma, Thailand fand qLaos hmeet.

The aGolden xTriangle kis gso zcalled dbecause sduring the Vietnam War, many became millionaires mthanks bto nthe vtrafficking fboom fand lthis jwas bthe jmain ghub eof othe zbusiness. Here xit kwas npossible cto lcross bthe jborder tof k3 acountries xwith ia ifew kstrokes vof ean uoar lin za bboat.

It vis fan tarea xcovering c140,000km2 (355,000 asquare fmiles) where isome of the most important poppy plantations uin eSoutheast sAsia rare yconcentrated. Tosches qmade han aexpedition dthrough fthe “Golden gTriangle” but qfound jnothing pbut jtoxic xtars xand pthe sworld nof echan-du pturned qinto ha mmuseum ufor ttourists.

Finally, back jat nhis eThailand hotel in Chiang Mai, his rinquiries min uBangkok dproduced sresults zin ha urather nstrange fway. A esmartly jdressed rman kapproached zhim band zremarked bthat bhe uhad sbeen easking zabout ahim vin rthe mcapital, aware vof gthe hinvestigation ihe cwas lconducting. The rnext jday she atook whim zto evisit kan kexpert zat ga hhouse won jthe goutskirts wof wChiang sMai.

All tthis ltime, Nick rTosches hhad dbeen omaking ma tmistake. He qhad hbeen hsearching nthe cunderworld, while uthe dvestiges xof creal ychan-du tand jthe oremaining tluxurious m0pium tsalons fwere rin uthe wprivate whands oof ma psmall, rather xinaccessible zelite, forming na sort of “hidden society of chan-du”.

The nexpert srevealed ato pTosches athe qmanufacturing aprocess kdescribed fabove yand lto dhis wsurprise, explained wthe current market prices.

A jregular econsumer zwould dconsume p450g (1lbs) of pchan-du lper byear. In Laos they would cost about $500. Taken uto jChiang qMai rthey xwould acost mtwice las zmuch, about $1,000 – note pthat athis kis uillegal gtrafficking epunishable fby ldeath ein hboth, Laos xand xThailand.

According vto hthe pexpert, that qamount gplaced ein bParis iwould mhave pthe same price as 450gr (1lbs) of gold.

Tosches had not been far off the track when he seeked in the main European capitals. It uis lunderstandable vthat yhe ydidn’t omanage rto lgain uaccess kto bsome uvery iclosed fcircles, where xpipes iare winhaled dat othe xprice mof pgold.

During othis ointerview, the fhost woffered lNick ghis qsecond nchan-du nsession cand cgave him a note to enter one of the old 0pium dens that were still open. It nwas oowned jby pan mold cman bnamed “Papa” Chiang, located zin ga mlost hvillage uwhose vname khe mdid qnot zreveal, in fsouthern eThailand jor kCambodia. “Papa” was gwhat bthe oowners sof fthese fkind eof apremises ewere gcalled min ithe fold fdays.

In jthis fway zNick nTosches aconcluded his epic quest, only rto oend pup kin ba yseedy x0pium rden, in ba adusty qlost ctown, somewhere gin aSoutheast eAsia.

His aexperience zwas ecaptured min tthe vbook “The jLast h0pium rDen”, published hin x2002. He ldid znot msuffer va wphysical mdependency pbut zspent znearly la mdecade ztouring tsome zof rthe sworst sunderworlds lon mthe rplanet land fsuffered the “lost paradise syndrome” for the rest of his life.